Indicating device for bowling alleys having elevatable pin. receiving means



Aug. 29, 1950 J. F. TIMBERLAKE 2,520,662

INDICATING DEVICE FOR BOWLING ALLEYS HAVING ELEVATABLE PIN RECEIVINGMEANS Filed June 2, 1947 Patented Aug. 29, 1950 INDIGATING;BEVICEFOKBQWLING-ALLEXS; HAYINGn ELEVAIEABLE; BI N. REGEIYING' Jimmey ll;"liimherfake, Clifllofltesville Va. as

signer of one-balk to= Haynes lail Setfle (Shanlottesville, Va.

Kppl'icafi'on 1mm 2, lam-swarm; item- 15 This: invention relates t'mindicatbrs, and more particularlyto indiizators the use wan Bowlingalleys t'o= inform the as 'tm which' pins have been Knocked? dowm andwhich remain standing.

' Because of the length of bewli'ng: all'eys itis often" difficult?"ferbewlers; and particularly ers=liaving impaired eyesight; to tellexactly whieh pins remain standing and whiehmins have fiallem It" is 1pa-rt'iicul'arlj important that misinformation be clearly and readilyavailablewhema'pinsetting machine of the type described in my co-pending application, Serial- No; 72'02'7fi751il'ed J a'nuany '8; 194i's=iir use:

I with the machineto=whicli r have-refernedi "it isusually'neeessaryatter one ball lias beenbowled tb sweepall of the pins f-tomthe alleyand reset the pinswhitalr were notknocked dbwn' By the ba lliresettihg'is controlled at tlie' bewler's end of the alley and a simpleand clear incllcatbr fim' showing which pinsmust Be resett is-ofcensirlerable: convenience:

(Dne object" at? the? invention i's t'e pnevidean indicator fowuse'witl'r hpwling alleysflio indicate which pins: standing and whielrhavefallen;

Another object. of the invention is tb= pmviiie iiniicatcn of the=typereferred ttr above for use with thepixr. setting machine disclosed? immy ahoveereferred-tm co p'endi'ng appllea'tiom A mnther: objectnofitheinyenti'omisztozprovide anw as describettabove which: is; simple andinex pensiveto mamifacturelamii in order, and which gives a clearindicatiomofitfle chine; descnibedz in: my erkin e-mentienedicut-pendiing application;: and i Y EigsAlisapamtlmdiagrammatimplamviewmttlie conductingzpiates andthe'lnsulatingrbiocle shuwn iii-Big; 3i

Briefly stated, the inventions compnisesaa plus nalityofelectrically-conducting; iplatesz. unnumiently founizr number;meuntedaimthe: flomxfofithe alley at) the set of each 1 of thebowlinpins: the plates at eazch pi'n. positiem is insulated themthe etherplates at that; pesiti'en and the plates are 'conneetecl interelectrical ciizcuit whiehis: arnanged; to energize'a-lighti im anindicating: boandi The lights: on: the indicating hoardi are arranged;nelative to]: eaclriotherrin': the same manner in. which. the? pins are:arranged when; inv their set; pnsitions: om the 'bpwling alley;

Each bowling pin has am electriball y'conducting plate: fastened"; to;itss lower; ends. sothat when" the pin: is in: its: setv positionaenztheaforementioned eonduntingplates' the: floor? of; the: alley"; theelectrical: circuit, willlfbecompleted? 15mm; one: of thefloor plates:'thnougli theebase: plate of the pin tmanothen of. thafloor-plateatacausethe light cnmespending; to. that pin position. to.- be;enemgized-,, indicating, the: presence. ofi thev pininh its setpositiomfi Whenever a pin. is: knoukeddawn; the: circuitto, thecorresponding: light will be bmkenfland, the light will becomedeenergized, indicating. to.= the bowler. that the pin corresponding tothat light is down.

In the device shnwm in Eig. 1, the. nnmena-L I 5 indicates. a.triangularly, shaped. indicating board having, its front face made oiopaque material. 111 positions; cnrrespondihg to the. set'positibns 01'thelpins the al1ey,lare.numer-a1's. |.B- running from. 1' to I! made. oftranslucent material. Mountedtieliihdltl'ie indicating board at the.posi'- ti'on pf each. of? the numerals It" are ten electriclighttbulbs,,one of'wl'lich is shown'at ILj l'n'tlie floor I13 of'tli'e'alley at the? setpositibn ofea'ch o'f'the pins are a pliiralityofelectrically conducting plates l9, 20', '21" amf 22; l'n-Eig; 1 theseplates are fimrin' number'and are segment shaped ,1butiitshoulbl beunderstood: that: other numbers. and shapes of conducting, plates can beused long as'th'ey'serve the desired purpose, as'will be explainedpresently:

Plates I9 throughZZ are separatedi'fi'om each otherby'insulatihg'material 23 which may either the wondof'theailey'itselfior' maybe a different type'of insulatinn'yasforinstance a'plastle material' whiclr eouldbe poured -into holes in the all'eysurfaee in ilniclcpnditi'on. Two offth'e' op"- pesitelypos'itionedplates HI and 2! are connected by means of" wiree- 2 w-tmeneterminal ofa* source or electrical energy-"'25; --ti ieother terminal of source 25being g'rouncled Theother two onposit'ely d'i'spesed plates 2 5i and 22are-connected liwmeansof wire w to one end of the filament of one 01 thebulbsjlfl while tlieotlier 'endof tlie filament is grounded Itwill heapparent tiiet bulfi lfl mraylde energized by electrically cennectingany two adjacent plates of the group of plates I9 through 22.

The electrical connection between plates l9 through 22 is accomplishedby means of a conducting plate 28 (Fig. 2) attached to the bottom ofbowling pin 29 so that when the .pin is in its set positioncentered onplates 9"through 22, the plate 28 will connect plates I9 through 22 insuc a manner as to energize bulb Although not shown in the drawing, theupwardly projecting pins commonly, used to, center'f grounded light bulb65 of an indicator board 55 as in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1.

A base plate 6| which supports guide tube 43, and to which the guidetube is attached, is connected to one terminal of a source of electricalenergy- 62, .the other. ;terminal .of which is grounded? The;connectionscould, of'course, be varied by placing electrical energy source 62 be- 3tween bulb 65 and ground or in the connection 51 thebowling pins attheir set positions may be positioned to extend upwardly abovethe'surface of the alley between plates I9 through2-2- into opening 30in the base of the bowling pin. V

Plates l9 through 22 are, of course, positioned with their uppersurfaces flush with the surface of the bowling alley so that the pinsare maintained upright in the usual manner. r 7

Figures 3 and 4 show the adaptation of this invention to use with thebowling pin setting machine described inmy above-referenced co-pending.patent application. In the machine described inthat application, thesurface 40 of the bowling alley. isprovided with a circular opening 4|at the set position of each pin, and a pin receiver gen- .erally denotedby the numeral 42 is arranged so as to move upwardly through eachopening 4| to re- 7 ceive a pin froman'overhead device which need 1 notbe described herein.

' r Thepin receiver'42 comprises a stationary inner guide tube 43- whichterminates at its upper end a short distance below the: alley surface40; and about which is slidably positioned a shorter'outer 44 is mountedabout the upper end of-tube 44- and is attachedthereto. in anyconvenient manner as by welding. A block 46 of insulatingmaterial 'fitswithin sleeve 45 and is normally positioned with block 46 rests.

1 WhenJouter tube 44 and sleeve 45 areelevated above the surface of thealley by means'which are gdescribed in jmy; co-pending application, the'shoulder formed by the upper end of tube 44 picks up theblock 46 duringthe upward movement so that when the pin receiver comprising tube 44 andsleeve 45 reaches its elevated pin receiving position, the upper surface41 of block '46 is spaced substantially below the upper end of sleeve 45and constitutes the bottom of a cup shaped pin re,- ceiving opening in'sleeve 45.

' When the pin receiver 42 is again lowered to its normal position asshown in Fig. 3, block 46 is halted in its downward movement by theupper end of guide tube 43 and. remains in its normal position with itssurface 41 flushwithithe surface 40 of the alley. l

T .As adapted for use with the present invention,

block 45 .is provided on its upper surface with four segment'shapedconducting plates 50, 5|, 5 2 and T53, each of which is insulated'from'the other tube44; A sleeve 450i greater diameter than tube itsupper'surface 41 flush with the surface 40' of f the alley by thecontact of its bottom surface'with the upper end'of inner guide tube 43upon which between bulb 65 and plates 5|, 53.

ltwill'now be apparent that plates 50 and 52 each pin receiver isconnected to the corresponding bulb 65 of the indicator board 66. Ihe'0peration of this embodiment of the invention is the same as in theembodiment shown in Fig; 1 the appropriate light bulb 65 being.energized only when abowling pinas shown in Fig. 2 is standing in itsset position.

If desired, block 46 could be of conducting material and two platessimilar to plates 50-53 could be positioned in-the upper surface of theblock and insulated from the block. These two plates could be attachedto wire 5?, the remainder ofthe block serving as a ground connection.:Theindicator board 5 or 56 may be positioned either at the bowlersendof the alley or at the other end of the alley in an elevated clearlyvisible-position: When used with the pin setting machine to which I havereferred, the indicator board is conveniently attached to the front endof the mechanism vwhich is positioned above the set positions of thepins, and facing toward the bowlelt' 1 I 1 s In the pin setting ;machinedescribed in my co-pending application, there-is'describ-ed a controlpanel having a plurality of switches, one for each' of the ten pinsetting positions, and arranged in the same relative positionson thepanel as thepinsare arranged on thealley. The electricindicator bulbs ofthe present invention could conveniently be located adjacent thecorresponding-switches on the control panel so that the-bowler by movingthe switches adjacent the lighted-bulbs could reset the pinscorresponding to those bulbs to prepare for the bowling of the nextball;V r

Only very simple embodiments of the invention and. the electricalcircuits thereof are shown.;herein, as they are presented only forillustrative purposes. I realize fully that the invention is susceptibleof numerous embodiments .and I-;do.:not wish to limit my invention tothe embodiments shown and described herein. It is my intention to coverall embodimentsof the 'inventionfalling within the inventive concept asdefined by. the appended claims.

L'InJa bowling alley having a plurality of elevatable pin receivingmeans one of which is located at the set positionof each pin, andutilizing pins having electrically conducting bottom portions, each ofsaid pin receiving means in- ;cluding an electrically conductingsupport, a "block normally. resting on the support with the uppersurface of the block flush with the-.alley surface, and means forraising said block to a pin receiving position above the'alley surfaceand out of. contact withsaid support', the 'ar-' iangement comprising aswitch combined with each of said receiving means and including switchcontacts located within the said block of each pin receiving means so asto be electrically connected by a bowling pin sitting in its setposition, insulation in the block separating said contacts from eachother, an electrically conducting element mounted on the underside ofeach block for contactin the corresponding support, a connection in eachblock between at least one of its switch contacts and the conductingelement of that block, a first circuit connection to at least one otherof said switch contacts in each block, and a second circuit connectionto each of said supports, whereby the presence of a bowling pin on ablock connects the two circuit connections for said block only when theblock is in its normal position flush with the alley surface.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, said supports being hollow, andsaid first connections passing downwardly through said supports.

JOURNEY F. TIMBERLAKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 599,352 Becker May 5, 1896651,601. Canter June 12, 1900 779,999 Haberl Jan. 10, 1905 1,911,436Cone May 30, 1933 1,994,411 Thomas Mar. 12, 1935 2,009,266 James July23, 1935 2,237,208 Abate Apr. 1, 1941 2,388,708 Bates Nov. 13, 1945

